Sunday
Morning Bible Study
January
13, 2013
Introduction
Do people see Jesus? Is the gospel
preached? Does it speak to the broken hearted? Does it build up the church? Milk
– Meat – Manna Preach for a decision Is the church loved?
This is a book
about Real Issues
What’s real?
What’s the truth?
We’ve been addressing issues like:
Who is God?
What is He really like?
What is a Christian?
What is a Christian really like?
Last week we
talked about the “witnesses” to who Jesus was.
Verse 8 told us
there were three witnesses – the Spirit, the water, and the blood.
We also talked
about the witness of God the Father about Jesus:
(1 Jn 5:9 NKJV) If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater;
for this is the witness of God which He has testified of His Son.
This week John addresses what we are to do with these “witnesses”.
5:10-13 Testimony
and Certainty
:10 He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does
not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony
that God has given of His Son.
:10 He who believes – pisteuo
– to think to be true, to be persuaded of, to credit, place confidence in
Present active participle
:10 has – echo
– to have, i.e. to hold
Present active indicative
:10 the witness – marturia
– a testifying; what one testifies, testimony, i.e. before a judge
:10 he who does not believe – pisteuo
– to think to be true, to be persuaded of, to credit, place confidence in
Present active participle
:10 God – theos
– God
Noun dative singular masculine
:10 liar – pseustes
– a liar
:10 has made – poieo
– to make; to do
Perfect active indicative
:10 not believed – pisteuo
– to think to be true, to be persuaded of, to credit, place confidence in
Perfect active indicative
:10 the testimony – marturia
– a testifying; what one testifies, testimony, i.e. before a judge
uses eis, literally, “believed into the testimony”
:10 that God has given – martureo
– to be a witness, to bear witness, i.e. to affirm that one has seen or
heard or experienced something, or that he knows it because taught by divine
revelation or inspiration
Perfect active indicative
:10 witness …
testimony … that God has given
In the Greek text, all three of these words are forms of the same word.
martureo – to be a witness, to testify
Forms of this word show up eight
times in vss. 9-11
You could translate the verse like this:
He who believes in the
Son of God has the testimony
in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not
believed the testimony
that God has testified
of His Son.
The issue of the verse is this – what are you going to do with God’s “testimony”?
:10 has made Him a
liar
If you don’t believe
the testimony of God about His Son, you are calling God a liar.
Lesson
God’s Testimony
If you are
called to do jury duty, and you actually find yourself selected to be on a
jury, you will sit
through a trial and listen to the evidence and testimony provided by the
lawyers and the witnesses.
What do you do
when God Himself takes the witness stand, raises His right hand, and swears to
tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help He Himself.
The job of the
person sitting on the jury is to weigh the evidence and to make a judgment based
on the reliability of the witnesses.
John is saying that if you choose to reject Jesus as God’s Savior, then you are calling God
a “liar”. You are rejecting the
testimony that God Himself has given regarding His Son.
What is God’s
testimony regarding Jesus?
Spoken testimony
Twice during the ministry of Jesus, people heard an
audible voice from heaven declaring that Jesus was God’s Son.
John
was there on the Mount of Transfiguration when something amazing happened:
(Mt 17:5 NKJV) While he
was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud,
saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!”
Written testimony
God alone knows the future
(Is 46:9–10 NKJV) —9 Remember
the former things of old, For I am God, and there is no other; I
am God, and there is none like Me, 10 Declaring the end from the beginning, And
from ancient times things that are not yet done, Saying, ‘My
counsel shall stand, And I will do all My pleasure,’
If the prophets wrote about things that were fulfilled by
Jesus, what does that tell you?
Hundreds of years before He came, the prophets declared
that –
He
would be born in Bethlehem:
(Mic
5:2 NKJV) “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among
the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to
be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From
everlasting.”
There would be
miraculous things happening:
(Is 29:18 NKJV) In that
day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, And the eyes of the blind shall
see out of obscurity and out of darkness.
He
would suffer for us:
(Is
53:5 NKJV) But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was
bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
He
would rise from the dead:
(Ps
16:10 NKJV) For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, Nor will You allow Your
Holy One to see corruption.
In all, there were over 300 prophecies that Jesus
fulfilled in His first coming. What does
that testify about Jesus?
Physical evidence
When the Jewish leaders were challenging Jesus’ ministry,
He said that the miracles
He had performed were a testimony of God being at work in Jesus’ life.
(Jn 5:36 NKJV) But I have
a greater witness than John’s; for the works which the Father has given Me to
finish—the very works that I do—bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me.
You could say that the “miracles” of Jesus were the
“physical evidence” that God was behind everything that Jesus did.
Think about the kinds of things that Jesus did, like the
miracle recorded earlier in John 5, where Jesus healed a man who had been
crippled for 38 years!
Play
“Bethesda Miracle” video clip.
Through
the gospel of John we see little snippets of the many miracles performed, like
turning water into wine (John 2), feeding 5,000 (John 6), healing a man born blind
(John 9), and raising Lazarus from the dead (John 11).
Miracles like these make it pretty clear what God thinks
of Jesus. It’s like the DNA evidence or
the fingerprint evidence that God was at work in Jesus.
As you sit in
the jury box, what will you do with God’s testimony about Jesus?
Are you bold enough to declare that God Himself doesn’t know what He’s
talking about? Are you foolish enough to declare
that God is a liar when it comes to Jesus?
You are faced with a choice.
What will you do with the fact that Jesus is indeed the
Son of God, the Savior of the world?
You
must believe in the Son of God.
:10 He who believes
in the Son of God
in – eis – into, unto, to, towards, for, among
Literally, “He
who is believes into the Son of God”
According to the definitive Kittle’s Greek Lexicon, eis is a little word that
in this context speaks of “Personal
Relationship” [1].
The concept of “believing into
Jesus” is only found a few times in the synoptic gospels, Acts, and Paul’s
writings, but in the gospel of John it is found over thirty times.
It is not just about “believing” that Jesus was real, or believing what
Jesus said, but the idea of “believing” yourself into a
relationship with Jesus.
Lesson
Believing Into Him
Some people
think that it’s enough to just believe that there is a God. Not so.
(Jas 2:19 NKJV) You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons
believe—and tremble!
When we get to “forever”, there will be no demons in
heaven. And they “believe”.
God doesn’t just want you to believe the right thing about Jesus, He wants
you to believe yourself INTO Jesus.
God wants you
to establish a relationship with Him through trusting Him.
It is not enough just to believe that Jesus died on a cross to pay for sins.
You MUST put your life into God’s hands.
Illustration
Blondin the tightrope walker.
Jean Francois
Gravelet was born February 28, 1824 in France. He developed his skills as an
acrobat under the guidance of P.T. Barnum (of Barnum & Bailey Circus). He became known as the Great Blondin.
In 1859 (35 yrs. old) he announced
that he would do the most amazing of all feats, he would cross Niagara Falls on a tightrope 1,100
feet long, 160 feet above the water.
On June 30, 1859
the rope was in position and at five
o’clock in the afternoon Blondin started the trip that was to make history.
Incredulous watchers saw him lower a rope to the Maid of the Mist, pull up a
bottle and sit down while he refreshed himself. He began his ascent toward the
Canadian shore, paused, steadied the balancing pole and suddenly executed a
back somersault. The crowd ‘screamed’, women ‘fainted’, those near the rope
‘cried’ and begged him to come in. When he finally stepped off the rope, he was grabbed by a
delirious mob of well-wishers who whisked him away to a champagne celebration.
He crossed the
Falls several times, each time making it more difficult. In all, he crossed the
rope on a bicycle, walking
blindfolded, pushing a wheelbarrow, stopping to cook an omelet in the center,
making the trip with his hands and feet manacled, even crossing on stilts.
His most daring
crossing came when he announced that he would carry a man across on his back.
It would be his manager, Harry
Colcord. According to Colcord, the trip was a nightmare. In the un-stabilized center section,
the pair swayed violently.
Blondin was fighting for his life. He broke into a desperate run to reach the
first guy rope. When he reached it and steadied himself, the guy rope broke. Once more the pair swayed
alarmingly as Blondin again ran for the next guy rope. When they reached it
Blondin gasped for Colcord to get down. Six times in all Colcord had to
dismount while Blondin struggled to gather his strength. In the end Blondin had to
charge the crowd on the brink to prevent the press of people forcing them back
in the precipice.
Later, he would perform privately for both the Prince of Wales and King Edward VII, he
repeated the stunt of ‘carrying a man on his back’ and offered to carry the
prince, but the
prince declined.
It’s possible
that you may not have yet taken this step, of learning to trust your life to
Jesus.
There is a great chasm between us and heaven. There’s no way you’re going
to get across on your own.
You need to trust Jesus enough to get on His shoulders. You need to trust “into” Him, to be counting
on Him.
Don’t be like the Prince of Wales and simply settle for
being entertained. Get up on Jesus’ shoulders.
Believe into Him.
:11 And this is
the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
:11 the testimony – marturia
– a testifying; what one testifies, testimony, i.e. before a judge
:11 life – zoe –
life
:11 eternal – aionios
– without beginning and end, that which always has been and always will be;
without beginning; without end, never to cease, everlasting
:11 has given – didomi
– to give
Aorist active indicative
:11 this is the
testimony
Just in case
you are unsure just what the point is about God’s “testimony” of Jesus, it’s
this:
God has made it
possible for us to have eternal life, life forever with Him in heaven.
This amazing
kind of “life” is found in one place, in Jesus.
If the “life”
is “in” the Son, then for us to find eternal life, we need to get “into” the
Son.
:12 He who has
the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
:12 He who has – echo
– to have, i.e. to hold
Present active participle
:12 has – echo
– to have, i.e. to hold
Present active indicative
:12 he who does not have – echo
– to have, i.e. to hold
Present active participle
:12 does not have – echo
– to have, i.e. to hold
Present active indicative
:12 He who has the Son has life
Lesson
Got Jesus?
Eternal life is very simple. It’s
all about a relationship with Jesus.
:13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son
of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue
to believe in the name of the Son of God.
:13 These things – houtos
– this, these, etc.
:13 I have written – grapho
– to write, with reference to the form of the letters; to write, with
reference to the contents of the writing
Aorist active indicative
:13 who believe – pisteuo
– to think to be true, to be persuaded of, to credit, place confidence in
Present active participle
:13 These things I have written
to you
Robertson – refers to the things
written in 5:1-12, not the entire epistle.
:13 who believe in the name
in – eis –
into
Literally, “you who are believing into the name of the Son of God”
:13 that you may continue to
believe – pisteuo – to think to be true, to be
persuaded of, to credit, place confidence in
Present active subjunctive
Why isn’t this phrase is some Bible
versions?
It goes back to the Greek
manuscripts. Some Greek manuscripts have
this phrase, others don’t. It’s not an
issue because it’s nothing we don’t know from other scriptures.
:13 that you may
know
know – oida –to know; signifies a clear and
purely mental perception
This isn’t the “knowledge by experience” (ginosko), but knowledge based in the head, achieved through thinking and reasoning.
Lesson
Be Sure
There are some
religions that make it sound as if you won’t really know whether you make it to
heaven or not until sometime after you die.
Often these
religions will teach you that your salvation depends on your good works – whether
you’re good enough – that you have to “earn” your way to heaven. They say that you won’t really know until
after you’ve lived your whole life.
But the Bible
makes it clear that our salvation is not based upon what WE do, but what GOD did.
(Tt 3:5 NKJV) not by
works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved
us…
(Eph 2:8–9 NKJV) —8 For by
grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is
the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.
God wants you to KNOW that you have eternal life.
He doesn’t want you to “hope” you have it.
He doesn’t want you to “wonder” if you have it.
Illustration
Wilfredo Garza
lived the life of an illegal immigrant for more than 35 years. Year after year,
he eked out a living crossing the border from Mexico into the United
States—some days finding work, some days not. Regardless, he was constantly
looking over his shoulder. He was caught by the Border Patrol four times during
that period and bused back to Mexico every time. Undeterred by each
apprehension, he swam back across the Rio Grande to try again.
The cycle would likely have continued for several more years if not for an
amazing discovery. One day, Wilfredo worked up the courage to walk into an
immigration lawyer's office. There, incredibly, he found out that his father
was born in Texas and spent time working there, which meant that Wilfredo was
actually a U.S. citizen!
All these years he possessed the very papers—his father's birth certificate
and work records—that proved his citizenship, and yet he lived in guilt and
fear. Now he has a certificate of citizenship. Now he doesn't have to sneak
across the border; he can walk through the main gate.
Anderson Cooper, "360 Degrees, On the Border"
(aired 5-25-06), CNN; submitted by Jay Caron, East Wenatchee, Washington
God doesn’t
want you to be misinformed about your citizenship.
He wants you to know where you will spend eternity.
If you were to die tonight, do you know where you would spend eternity?
Take a step today and choose to put your life in Jesus’ hands.
Illustration
In “The Whisper Test,”
Mary Ann Bird writes: I grew up knowing I was different, and I hated it. I was
born with a cleft palate, and when I started school, my classmates made it
clear to me how I looked to others: a little girl with a misshapen lip, crooked
nose, lopsided teeth, and garbled speech.
When schoolmates asked, “What happened to your lip?” I’d tell them I’d
fallen and cut it on a piece of glass. Somehow it seemed more acceptable to
have suffered an accident than to have been born different. I was convinced
that no one outside my family could love me.
There was, however, a teacher in the second grade whom we all adored—Mrs.
Leonard by name. She was short, round, happy—a sparkling lady.
Annually we had a hearing test. ... Mrs. Leonard gave the test to everyone
in the class, and finally it was my turn. I knew from past years that as we
stood against the door and covered one ear, the teacher sitting at her desk
would whisper something, and we would have to repeat it back—things like “The
sky is blue” or “Do you have new shoes?” I waited there for those words that
God must have put into her mouth, those seven words that changed my life. Mrs.
Leonard said, in her whisper, “I wish you were my little girl.”
God says to every person deformed by sin, “I wish you were
my son” or “I wish you were my daughter.”
Some people think it is prideful and wrong to think you know you are
going to heaven.
It would be prideful if we thought we were going to heaven because we
were good enough.
But we’re not good enough. God
is good enough.
We have simply learned to put our lives into His hands.
Some of you may
be living “on the border”, thinking you have to keep “sneaking in” to God’s
kingdom.
It’s a sign that you are growing up
in the Lord when you can come to realize that you ARE God’s child.
Make the decision to move away from the border of continuously wondering
whether or not you are saved.
My oh my how He
loves you.
Is Jesus good
enough to pay for all of your sins?
Then trust Him to
do so.
Lesson
Trusting His Word
Here’s the issue: Do I really believe that I can trust God, and
what He promises in His word?
My assurance should depend on what
God says.
He says that if you have the Son,
you have the Life.
He says that if you are counting on
the Son, then you have the Son.
My assurance does not rest upon
feelings.
Feelings can change with something
as silly as having a bad meal last night for dinner.
The Bible says,
(2 Co 5:7 NKJV) For we
walk by faith, not by sight.
We need to learn
to live our lives NOT based upon what our senses tell us (like feelings,
circumstances, etc.), but based upon what we believe, what we are counting on.